Camille Pissarro

The piece of art which I have chosen to write about is called Road to
Versailles at Louveciennes by Camille Pissarro, created in 1869. The
landscape painting is of Louveciennes, a suburban village northwest of
Paris where Pissarro settled during the time of this painting. Pissarro was
an impressionist painter and these characteristics can be seen in this
painting here as the different brush strokes can be seen to put emphasis
on the different tones of lighting. I think that the artist is trying to show
how a place changes during different seasons. Here, it is obvious that the
painting depicts a street during winter and it is through the use of his thin
brush strokes that Pissarro shows how different places look during
different times of year. This painting also has lots of history, this is
because the painting was created a year before the beginning of Paris
siege during the Franco-Prussian War when Prussians created a fort in
Pissarros house which destroyed most of his artworks.
In the foreground, there is an image of what appears to be an old lady
with a cane and a group of four children walking across the road in the
snow. In the middle ground, there are some tall brown trees which have
abscised and there is a carriage below being pulled by two white horses
along the snow-covered road. In the background, there are more
buildings but they continue to shrink to make the image appear more 3D.
This image has been painted onto a canvas using oil paints and the artist
has blended a range of different colours to create the necessary tones
required to create his perspective of the road to Versailles during the
winter. The artist may have chosen to use this medium because it
enabled him to create a variety of tones whilst not giving him a realistic
image. The use of this is evident without looking at the painting up-close
since each brush stroke can be seen from quite far away, which, as I said
before, puts more emphasis on the changing of light during different
seasons of the year. Pissarro was also known to have painted rural and
urban places in France and this is just one of his examples of his paintings
of an industrialised landscape. The artist may be saying that
Louveciennes was a beautiful place to live and that he loved to observe
the village change with time (as evident with the fact that he painted
many paintings here). It may also make the viewer sad since following
the creation of the painting was the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871)
where much of the village was destroyed, including some of Pissarros
paintings. Pissarro has used a range of light tones to convey the
happiness felt during the winter time (Christmas, fun, etc.), especially
among children which Pissarro has included in this painting. This painting
makes me feel nostalgic as it makes me remember the fun times I had in
the snow when I was younger.

The reason why I chose to write about this piece of art is because it is
close to my idea (Places Apart and Together) since the artist created an
artwork which was important to him and shows how this placed changed
over time. Furthermore, as well as evoking old memories, the white
landscape has made me want to return to such places where I felt happy
and at peace. The only dislike which I have about the painting is the how
the artist painted the sky. I know that Pissarro was an impressionist
painter and the way he painted the image was in the impressionist style
but I feel that it is very bland and that it doesnt match very well with the
bright and happy ground level of the painting. In addition to this, the dark
sky contrasts with the light ground which may bring the realism away
since this doesnt usually happen in reality. I also felt that the clouds were
quite rushed and lacked depth and it too makes the contrast between the
2D sky and the 3D ground the two dont really match. I have been
inspired to paint different images of the same place during different times
of year to show how different seasons can change the appearance of the
same place and evoke different emotions within the viewer. In my
artworks, I may choose to recreate a location that is important in my life
and show what makes it special.

Road to Versailles at Louveciennes by Camille Pissarro, 1869